In a story that Hal Ginsberg broke yesterday morning on KRXA 540 AM the Monterey County Republicans sent out an email comparing Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler. The email, sent to their entire list, is basically a long rant against and addressed to “Barack Hussein Obama” but toward the end descends into some nasty territory:
Because some of these people are frightened about the future, the economy, and their financial security … and you are preying on their fears with empty promises … and because some (especially our young people) are consumed by your wonderful style and promises for ‘change’ like the Germans who voted for Adolf Hitler in 1932. The greed/envy by Germans in 1932 kept them from recognizing Hitler for who he was. They loved his style. Greed and envy are keeping many Americans from recognizing you … your style has camouflaged your dishonesty … but many of us see you for who you really are … and we will not stop exposing who you are every day, forever if it is necessary. [Ellipsis in original]
The response from Monterey County Democrats was swift:
Vinz Koller, executive director of the county Democratic Party, said he was shocked that local Republicans distributed “such despicable hate mail.”
He said the local GOP should “set the record straight.”
“They have to stand up for what it’s saying or repudiate it,” he said.
Koller said he personally reviews every e-mail distributed by the local Democratic Party to ensure against any light-speed faux pas.
(Which I can vouch for, since I write many of those emails he reviews.)
The local media has been deeply critical as well, with the Monterey Herald weighing in with this editorial:
Local party officials immediately climbed out of the muck to repudiate the piece and apologize, right?
Not exactly.
In a news release, the party disavowed the Hitler comparison but acknowledged that it had sent the piece out, in its entirety, because it was interesting and “might incite conversation.”
However, the release went on, “This sort of inflammatory language is neither condoned nor encouraged by our party.”
Except, that is, when this sort of inflammatory language is, in fact, condoned, encouraged and even distributed by the party.
And they’re calling him dishonest.
What happened here is obvious. The true face of the Republican Party came out and had a look around, a local radio host caught it and called them on it, and suddenly the local Republican officials felt the need to backpedal and try to deny to the public that their party’s base is full of people who think like that. We’ve seen it at McCain/Palin rallies around the country and from other Republican Party organizations around the state. Brandon Gesicki and his party can try and distance themselves from it all they like, but the truth is out there.